The Great Book Of Answers (story)
"The Great Book Of Answers" is a story that is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. It is an adaptation of the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" set in that particular universe. Plot Summary On the day that Handy unveils his latest invention, the smurfopedia, which turns out to be a magic mirror that would allow its user to get all sorts of answers to appear on the mirror just by using a typewriter-style keyboard, Brainy tells Empath about a situation that took place a few years before Empath's final return. During one of Papa Smurf's extended visits to Homnibus the wizard, Brainy was cleaning the village leader's laboratory when he came across a book within a locked cupboard that had nothing on the pages except the page numbers. When he turned to the front page of the book, a voice said "hello" and told Brainy that he can ask any question. Brainy asked the book for the age of Papa Smurf, and after he was told to go to a certain page, he discovered that the book provided the correct age of Papa Smurf being 545 years old. He tested the book again about the water level of the village dam, and was astounded by the book's correct answer. Brainy shows this book to a few Smurfs, who found themselves equally astounded by the answers the book gave them. Soon every Smurf gathered around Papa Smurf's house in the hopes that the book would answer their questions, but all too soon the book says that it needs to rest, and Brainy sees that a single responsible Smurf needs to be its guardian, which he reasons would be himself. He takes the book home to his house, which ends up making the other Smurfs angry and ready to take the book from Brainy's hands. Brainy counters their efforts by asking the book for a way that it will only listen to Brainy, and so the book gives Brainy an incantation so that it will recognize Brainy's voice only. When the Smurfs finally get their hands on the book, they are surprised that the book will not give them any access to it -- even Jokey, who tried to impersonate Brainy, was unsuccessful. To further restrict access to the book, Brainy went out into the forest and there with the book's help found an old tower he could use as his residence and a place for the book to be kept safe and dry. With favors from some of his fellow Smurfs to renovate the tower for his use, Brainy allowed the Smurfs to come to him one at a time to ask the book any questions they had, with Clumsy as his assistant to guide the Smurfs to the book's special room. When Papa Smurf finally comes home, he sees that the entire village looks like it has been abandoned and left a mess, and that his laboratory has been in constant use. He notices that Smurfette has been hiding inside her house because her hair is now dark and dull, and Vanity was now wearing a shopping bag over his head with holes cut out. Papa Smurf realizes from this that Brainy must be using the Great Book of Answers from his locked cupboard of banned books and goes to the tower to confront Brainy about its use. Brainy acts rather presumptuous before Papa Smurf, saying that the village leader fears that someday he would lose all his great wisdom and power, but that the Great Book of Answers will always be there to give the correct answers. Papa Smurf tries to tell him and all his little Smurfs that the Great Book of Answers never warns its readers the consequences of following its answers and tries to take the book away from Brainy, but Brainy prevents Papa Smurf from doing so, and the village leader is taken back to his house unconscious and sealed inside his own house so that he wouldn't escape. Papa Smurf sees that most of his little Smurfs will not heed his warnings about the book and so decides to move into a cave outside the village where he will find the solutions to the problems the book's answers were creating, such as Smurfette's dull hair, Vanity's spotted face, Hefty's crippling pain, and Painter's fever. But soon a heavy rain pours down on the Smurf Forest, and Papa Smurf sees that none of the Smurfs have monitored the water level of the village dam recently, so after opening the sluice gate to let out some of the water, he tries to gather as many Smurfs as possible to create some holes in the dam to relieve the pressure building behind it before it breaks. Brainy stops them from reaching the dam by saying he will ask the book what they should do, only to find out that the book needs to rest, and that makes the Smurfs wait for the book to recharge. This leads to the situation of the dam breaking, and the Smurfs running to higher ground to escape the deluge coming from the lake. However, Smurfette is unable to find Baby Smurf and fears for his life. Brainy, who is swimming through the deluge while trying to keep the book dry, finds Baby safe on a rock. Brainy now needs to find out how he can get Baby Smurf safely to shore while keeping the book safe. The book tells Brainy that he must sacrifice Baby Smurf as it considers itself to be more important. Brainy realizes at last how dangerous the book is and decides to throw it into the water while he swims to shore with Baby Smurf. Papa Smurf is glad to see Brainy coming to his senses about the book, telling him that the book's power could make even the wisest Smurf lose his head over it. As Brainy's story about the book ends, Empath is inspired to come up with his own invention for something that had all the wisdom of Papa Smurf contained within it. Notes * The book being referred to as The Great Book Of Answers, as opposed to the original story's The Book That Tells Everything, was intended to connect the book to the cartoon show universe's similarly named The Great Book Of Spells, which Gargamel has in his possession. * Papa Smurf's age described as being "___ years in chanterelles" is an element used from the Smurf comic books. * Brainy in the framing portions of the story admits to being whacked in the head, which is an element more commonly found in the Smurf comic books than in the cartoon show, where he is usually booted out of the village. It was only in the animated version of "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute" (which was produced by Belvision Studios instead of Hanna-Barbera) where Brainy was whacked in the head with a mallet. * Since the adaptation takes place a few years before Empath's return, Handy and Farmer both wear clothing that is more consistent to the time period of the cartoon show (such as Handy's white overalls and Farmer's white Smurf clothing) rather than the clothes they wear in the original version of the story. * Greedy takes the place of Chef Smurf in this adaptation, and Clumsy takes the place of the character identified as Schtroumpf Beta (Dimwitty or Dopey Smurf). Title Translations * French: Le Grand Livre de Réponses * Spanish: El Gran Libro de Respuestas * German: Das große Buch der Antworten * Italian: Il Grande Libro delle Risposte * Dutch: Het Grote Boek van Antwoord The Story * Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3 * Part 4 * Part 5 Possible Voice Cast Smurfs * Empath - Robert Duncan McNeil * Papa Smurf - Ethan Phillips * Smurfette - Hynden Walch * Brainy - Fred Armisen * Clumsy - Jack McBrayer * Handy - Jensen Ackles * Hefty - Fred Tatasciore * Greedy - Thomas Wilson * Nabby - Greg Cipes * Jokey - Max Cassella * Vanity - Mark Meer * Grouchy - Steve Blum * Tracker - Adam Howden * Tapper - Karl Hanover * Duncan McSmurf - Alan Cumming Others * The Great Book Of Answers - AT&T Natural Voices Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:Comic book story adaptations Category:Full story plot summaries Category:VicGeorge2K9's articles Category:Story main pages Category:Stories about magical items